#This took soooo long

[melodystep]

whats on your mind, frostpaw?

[kipkoh]

There’s something cathartic about thinking about fictional characters doing mundane, everyday things

(Close ups under the cut)

[cuttlefishsstuff]

for your viewing pleasure:

an updated biblically accurate f1 family tree

[drop-dead-dino]

🎈🎉Happy 10th anniversary FNAF!🎉🎈

Sins of the Father. “Idiom: used to say that children often suffer for the bad things their parents do.”

Tried something very different style wise, inspired by the arcade mini-games!

[everlastiingiimmortals]

(Some of) The Achievements of Dr. Ratio

And Elaborations on Their Significance: A Review

As transcribed from the Keeping Up with Star Rail video because that shit was hard to read

Medicine: Developed serum for lithogenesis, completely lifting the shadow of the "King of Diseases"

Philosophy: Published What is Knowledge, acclaimed as the "ultimate answer to all 'epistemological' questions."

Natural Theology: Published the work Aeons: A Natural Phenomenon, hailed as the "most sacred prophet of Aeon non-theism."

Mathematics: Published a paper entitled "A Solution to the Marta-Cishian Undirected Connectivity Problem in Metric Spaces," successfully solving three of the "Seven Challenges in Contemporary Mathematics" left by Genius Society #56, Elias Salas.

Physics: Established the Ratio Unified Field Theory, thoroughly elucidating the spaciotemporal discrete structure that was once obscure to humanity.

Computer Science: Published a paper entitled "Existence Proof of the Fyangu Function," opening the doors to solving numerous problems in computer science.

Engineering: Led the research on the Energy Black-Body Radiation Generator, resolving the energy crisis of the century (multiple Amber Eras).

Biology: Published papers on "The Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Nesting Behavior of Witherflies" and "The Metabolism of the Ahriman Archaea." As Genius Society member #55 Yu Qingtu once said, these two papers "accelerated the scientific world's understanding of species evolution by 1000 years."

This sounds like a load of honky, right? Yeah. So let's break it down and address what we can here. Keep in mind that while I am a biologist (officially, in five months) and intimately familiar with evolution and ecology, I know Very Fucking Little about everything else! I am looking into sources while I go through this.

So, the first thing: what is lithogenesis?

Looking into the breakdown of the word, we can split it into its prefix particle and the suffix particle: 'litho' and 'genesis'. The prefix 'litho-' refers to stones, such as in lithiasis, which is the pathological creation of stones (like kidney stones) in the body. -genesis refers, obviously, to the beginning, development, or production of something, such as in osteogenesis, the production of bone. But if lithiasis already exists, then what might lithogenesis mean? Given that it is referred to as the King of Diseases (which is another interesting note), my guess is that it is perhaps a more literal version of scleroderma (an autoimmune disease that causes the skin to thicken and harden), where the skin or other parts of the body literally turns to stone. This is significant for another reason, which is that Ratio is Greek (as well as Roman, but we'll get into the points of his character design with another post). Some of the most famous monsters of Greek mythology are the Gorgons, of which Medusa is the most notorious. What did the Gorgons do? Turn people to stone. I'd like to propose that lithogenesis is perhaps a degenerative disease that previously had no cure in which the body undergoes accelerated petrification caused by a creature not dissimilar to the Gorgon, though I hesitate to suggest that the disease is as fast acting as the Gorgons' stare is.

Second: What is Knowledge and epistemology

I don't have much to say about this one as I am not well versed in philosophy, but a quick google search says that epistemology is "the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion." AKA: What do people know, and how do they know what they know? Further digging says that epistemological debates revolve around four main areas: 1) the analysis of the nature of knowledge, as well as the conditions for belief to constitute as knowledge (truth, reason); 2) sources of knowledge or belief (memory, reason, perception, testimony); 3) the structure of knowledge or belief (foundations of belief vs. coherent justification); 4) skepticism, which basically questions all of that, and the implications for such skepticism. I found this to be neat because this is Ratio's fundamental approach to teaching, and I just thought that was fun. Epistemology has been debated since ancient Greek philosophy, and that tie-in to his entire character was nice.

Third: Aeon non-theism

Now this was real fun to see, and I ended up laughing about it to some friends because from the outside, it looks like Nous' rejection of Ratio left him so petty he became an atheist, and perhaps that is true, but it holds far more significance to his character than that. The Aeons, all of them, are higher-dimensional entities widely worshiped as gods by all sorts of people across the galaxies (also called Gods of the Stars in Chinese), and even the Genius Society treat Nous as a god with more than some level of fanaticism. The Aeons are prayed to, sworn by, given offerings, and bless followers with their powers. It's not hard to see why they are considered gods. Yet Dr. Ratio basically challenges that with a reference to the Aeons as natural phenomena, rather than divine beings. The idea of natural theology in general is interesting, and I guess it has to do with the fact that the Aeons, while perceived as gods, do have direct and tangible impacts and effects on the natural world. I imagine that Dr. Ratio argues that Aeons are the product of an entity (or multiple) embodying a belief, movement, or philosophy to its utter and exhaustive extreme, and that what makes a god is whether or not they are perceived as worthy of worship, yet every single thing in the universe is subject to scrutiny and criticism. Worship introduces blindness, tunnel vision, fanaticism, and ignorance, and erases scrutiny and reason. It is as he says: "the Path of Erudition has neither reason nor logic." As Ratio scrutinizes all things, he therefore worships nothing, thus directly challenging the widespread worship of not just the Aeons, but those they favor and choose to represent them (hi Genius Society ;) ).

Fourth: ....Math.

Again, not much to say here (I don't even know if the problems addressed are mentioned in-game as readables, but I might do some digging tomorrow to find out) but I find it especially significant to point out that he solved problems that even Elias Salas, one of the most famous Genius Society members, did not (or left behind). I need to stress that Ratio is a genius. He is. What gatekeeps him from the Genius Society is not capability, but principle. Elias Salas (along with #22, Aiden) is incredibly unique among the Genius Society members for being someone who actively shared his findings and inventions with the public, handing the rights to the Synesthesia Beacon as well as long-range communications technology to the Intelligentsia Guild. But Ratio's focus is less on the pursuit and breakthrough of uncharted knowledge and more on the sharing and use of knowledge to educate and help others. Though he's certainly made breakthroughs himself, it's clear he does so with the intent of bettering lives, not just because he can. Maybe one could argue that he isn't "genius enough," but really? I just think that he cares too much. This point just goes to show that he is on par with the Geniuses of the Society, and that the existence of said Society introduces elitism into the picture more than the word already does -- hence Ratio's repeated use of the phrase "ivory tower."

Five: ...Physics.

So I did end up looking into unified theories for a more comprehensive understanding of what the fuck was so significant, and this is... admittedly far beyond the scope of anything I comprehend (obviously). But from what I could understand of current theoretical physics is that the unified theory is a goal of modern physicists, some single theory that can be used to marry the concepts of electromagnetism and gravity, as they're currently under two separate theories with no relation to one another. There is no singular, widely agreed upon theory as of right now, while the String Theory (vibrations of one-dimensional "strings" determine the properties of these strings, and each vibrational state corresponds to a particle) is one such attempt to do so it is not without its many criticisms. The idea of a unified theory was one that Einstein himself had tried, even on his deathbed, to formulate, but never managed to solve. It's been almost 70 years since then in our time, yet we can assume from the wording of the achievements that a unified theory that concisely joined forces (gravity) with fields (electromagnetism) was not proposed until Dr. Ratio, or at least was not improved until he posited his theory. ...In normal English: that's fucking huge. Truly, I wish I had more insight into the topic so that I could explain its applications, but I don't. Maybe this will be something I can return to later? I dunno. I'm not a quantum physicist adslkfjhsad

Six: ...Computer Science.

Okay this one actually genuinely holds no substance that I can write about aside from wow did you know Dr. Ratio is a polymath and super smart and cool and-

Seven: Energy crisis and black-body radiation

Back to the interesting things! So, to put it simply, black-body radiation refers to the light (electromagnetic radiation) a black-body emits when it is heated, as higher temperatures mean higher velocity of the charged particles on the surface of the black-body. The thing is that a black-body in the true sense is only a idealized object, not a realized one -- though black holes are predicted to get pretty close as they absorb almost all radiation rather than reflect it. After doing some reading, the reason this is so significant is that most real-world objects are not black-bodies, and thus only radiate a fraction of the energy that they theoretically would if they were black-bodies. Stars and planets are approximated as black-bodies when estimating their surface temperature, so... My guess is that Dr. Ratio was able to manufacture a material as close to a black-body as he possibly could, or discovered a celestial black-body that he could harness the radiation of, and engineered a generator that could use that power as efficiently as possible -- utilizing an isolated vacuum, the amount of radiated energy lost to gas particles or escaping the system would be reduced or near-entirely eliminated, thus providing far more energy than any systems or generators applied today.

Eight: Neurobiology and metabolism.

Now this is more my speed. The relation of neurobiological activity to cognition and behavior is actually specifically my major, but admittedly there is not much I can discuss without a mode of comparison. What are witherflies? What are they related to? How does their nesting behavior differ from that of other species related to them, and why is that significant for the understanding of cognition or their evolution? I could talk at length about sexual selection and intrasexual competition, about wars of attrition and the handicap hypothesis, but without something to compare to it's a bit of a moot point, especially since none of these nesting behaviors are described. Nesting is also very different from courtship, while both can (and do) affect the neurobiology (and physiology!) of both male and female individuals of a species, how and when they do so differs between each scenario. The metabolism of the Ahriman Archaea is an entirely different look into organisms which I find interesting for a different reason: archaea are single-celled organisms that, unlike bacteria, have genes (like us!) and unlike us are capable of utilizing far more energy sources than just organic compounds, such as metal ions or even hydrogen gas. Dr. Ratio's discoveries about the metabolism(s) of the species within the Ahriman Archaea could very well have provided immense insight into the evolution of life in that ecosystem, or whether or not said life can be traced to another galaxy or another point of origin. Another thing that I do want to point to here is the fact that he was acknowledged and praised by Yu Qingtu, someone that Ruan Mei mentions and I believe she considered a friend, or at least someone worthy of admiration.

TLDR: Dr. Ratio is absolutely a big deal and his spite towards the Genius Society is entirely justified, fuck you Screwllum.

[cpyclopse]

Skyview temple

This is the background for my ghirahim drawing I promised a week ago. This background took at least 12 hours so it might as well be its own post

[vermillianno]

For this illustration, I wanted to use roses as a metaphorical aspect to Dorian Gray’s loss of inner purity during that one scene in the garden. 

[wu-does-art]

thinking about Nico adjusting to letting himself miss and long for the people he loves. based on these bits from the sun and the star:

" As Nico and Will followed the trogs, he thought about how much he missed Hazel. He was learning to make peace with that feeling. It was okay for him to miss people because that meant he wanted them around in his life. That idea was *very* new for him- he was used to either pushing people away or watching them recoil from his presence." *

" That was the most surreal thing of all... Was he happy? Nico wasn't very familiar with the sensation, but he couldn't deny that he felt wonderful in Will's presence. He even longed for the son of Apollo when they were apart. A funny thing had happened as the two grew closer: Nico suddenly understood all those cheesy, sappy love songs he'd always hated."

[the-colossal]

Lmfaoo it’s a thing of beauty

Run bitch RUUUUUUUN!

[reasonsforhope]

"In an unprecedented step to preserve and maintain the most carbon-rich elements of U.S. forests in an era of climate change, President Joe Biden’s administration last week proposed to end commercially driven logging of old-growth trees in National Forests.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who oversees the U.S. Forest Service, issued a Notice of Intent to amend the land management plans of all 128 National Forests to prioritize old-growth conservation and recognize the oldest trees’ unique role in carbon storage. 

It would be the first nationwide amendment to forest plans in the 118-year history of the Forest Service, where local rangers typically have the final word on how to balance forests’ role in watershed, wildlife and recreation with the agency’s mandate to maintain a “sustained yield” of timber.

“Old-growth forests are a vital part of our ecosystems and a special cultural resource,” Vilsack said in a statement accompanying the notice. “This clear direction will help our old-growth forests thrive across our shared landscape.”

But initial responses from both environmentalists and the logging industry suggest that the plan does not resolve the conflict between the Forest Service’s traditional role of administering the “products and services” of public lands—especially timber—and the challenges the agency now faces due to climate change. National Forests hold most of the nation’s mature and old-growth trees, and therefore, its greatest stores of forest carbon, but that resource is under growing pressure from wildfire, insects, disease and other impacts of warming.

Views could not be more polarized on how the National Forests should be managed in light of the growing risks.

National and local environmental advocates have been urging the Biden administration to adopt a new policy emphasizing preservation in National Forests, treating them as a strategic reserve of carbon. Although they praised the old-growth proposal as an “historic” step, they want to see protection extended to “mature” forests, those dominated by trees roughly 80 to 150 years old, which are a far larger portion of the National Forests. As old-growth trees are lost, which can happen rapidly due to megafires and other assaults, they argue that the Forest Service should be ensuring there are fully developed trees on the landscape to take their place...

The Biden administration’s new proposal seeks to take a middle ground, establishing protection for the oldest trees under its stewardship while allowing exceptions to reduce fuel hazards, protect public health and safety and other purposes. And the Forest Service is seeking public comment through Feb. 2 (Note: That's the official page for the proposed rule, but for some reason you can only submit comments through the forest service website - so do that here!) on the proposal as well as other steps needed to manage its lands to retain mature and old-growth forests over time, particularly in light of climate change.

If the Forest Service were to put in place nationwide protections for both mature and old-growth forests, it would close off most of the National Forests to logging. In an inventory concluded earlier this year in response to a Biden executive order, the Forest Service found that 24.7 million acres, or 17 percent, of its 144.3 million acres of forest are old-growth, while 68.1 million acres, or 47 percent, are mature."

-via Inside Climate News, December 20, 2023

-

Note: This proposed rule is current up for public comment! If you're in the US, you can go here to file an official comment telling the Biden administration how much you support this proposal - and that you think it should be extended to mature forests!

Official public comments really DO matter. You can leave a comment on this proposal here until February 2nd.

[vechter]

free churro, bojack horseman // titans (1999) #21 // perihelion: a history of touch, franny choi // titans (2008) #23 // justice league of america (2006) #2 // in defense of loving him, clementine von radics // wonder woman (1987) #165 // dc special: the return of donna troy (2005) #3 // titans/young justice: graduation day (2003) #2 // unknown // batman chronicles (1995) #7 // the summer palace, succession // titans/young justice: graduation day (2003) #3 // achilles come down, gang of youths // titans/young justice: graduation day (2003) #3 // lighthousekeeping, jeanette winterson // dc special: the return of donna troy (2005) #2-3 // titans (2008) #23 // the nation's saddest love poems, sam j. grudgings // titans (2008) #23 // infinite crisis (2005) #1 // justice league: the rise of arsenal (2010) #2-3 // writing prompts for the broken-hearted, eden robinson // titans (2008) #23 // art by christopher troise // outsiders (2003) annual // aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe, benjamin alire sáenz

dick grayson + donna troy + roy harper + being absolutely insane about each other (inspired by @dukethvmas's text post)

[mewmewdoppio]

Harpy hare where have you buried all your children?

Closeups

[aiikuraa]

Leviathan (attacker) coloured by me

[blueskittlesart]

My illustration final this semester, based on an excerpt from Neil Gaiman's Troll Bridge!

b&w pages under the cut bc i like them :)

[artilite]

oranges 🍊 (link click)

thought this poem by Jean Little fit these two a lot :))) slightly inspired by the lmk version by @ziaofender!

[ID: A Link Click comic which is done in shades of orange, with blue accents for Lu Guang's eyes. The narration, taken from "Oranges" by Jean Little and altered to fit, begins on Lu Guang peeling an orange with a neutral expression and saying, "I peel oranges neatly. The sections come apart cleanly, perfectly in my hands."

We see Cheng Xiaoshi struggling to peel an orange. Juice spurts out, and he yelps. "When Cheng Xiaoshi peels an orange, he tears holes in it. Juice squirts in all directions."

Cheng Xiaoshi tearfully hands the orange to an exasperated Lu Guang. His dialogue mixes with the narration: "'Lu Guang,' he says, 'I don’t know how you do it!'" Cheng Xiaoshi happily eats oranges. "Cheng Xiaoshi is my best friend." Lu Guang looks at him with a fond, sweet smile, also preparing to eat a slice. "I hope he never learns how to peel oranges." End ID]

[starrysharks]

🤒🩷💙💉

close ups:

+ inspo (literally my fav miku fig ever):